Is your Bank Account telling you the truth? Believe it or not, banks do make mistakes, in fact more often than we think.
As many as 54% of bank interest calculations may be wrong! (SMH Survey)
Mortgage Watchdog is an Australian product that provides a self checking facility for all your bank accounts. The sorts of errors it picks up are:
Charging Interest After Every Transaction. You may not know it, but some financial institutions are charging interest whenever a deposit is made eg. weekly or in some cases daily. This negates most of the benefit of making weekly payments on your home loan or making "extra" payments.
Incorrect Calculation of Your Repayment Amount. As simple as charging the wrong interest rate for a small period can compound to cost thousands. Interest rates may change during a statement period and the wrong changeover date is often used - costing you extra.
The Interest was Charged At Least One Day Early. Yes, just one day out and you could be up for thousands of dollars of extra interest payments.
The Incorrect Interest Rate Was Applied. An error of 0.5% over 12 months on a $250,000 loan adds an extra $1,250 to your interest payment, compound this over the lifetime of the loan and you could add years to your loan.
Leap Year : 365 days used by the bank instead of 366 when calculating interest.
Incorrect Dates Are Used When Calculating Interest. When the interest debit is calculated on the daily balance one or two days prior to the date appearing on the statement. Or when the interest credit is calculated on the daily balance one or two days after the date appearing on the statement.
Payout Figures Incorrectly Calculated. An Incorrect Amount is Credited (Debited) To The Account.
